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In this World Cup ski season, climate change is winning
OLYMPICS
In this World Cup ski season, climate change is winning
By Barry Svrluga
November 18, 2022 at 5:23 a.m. EST
Austria's Patrick Feurstein skis during the first run of the men's giant slalom last month in Soelden, Austria. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)
The women’s World Cup Alpine ski season begins this weekend in Levi, Finland, where Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova and an international field of stars will run two slalom races in temperatures that, finally and mercifully, will peak in the teens. This event comes five weeks after the first scheduled competition of the season was wiped out because rain softened the course on a glacier in Soelden, Austria, to the point that it became unsafe to ski.
The only men’s Alpine race of the season thus far was contested the following day in Soelden — without rain but with temperatures in the mid-40s and a deteriorating surface. Since then, two men’s and women’s downhill races — in the shadow of Switzerland’s Matterhorn, with a finish line across the border in Italy — have been canceled because there wasn’t enough snow on the bottom portion of the track. Officials from the International Ski Federation (FIS) scratched a pair of parallel slalom races in Austria because cold temperatures arrived too late to provide a proper course.
The tally: Of eight scheduled races to date, one has been held. The women’s races this weekend will occur more than 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle — which is becoming one of the only fail-safe ways to stage an outdoor winter sports competition. Organizers are desperate to get the season going. Climate change is winning.
{snip}
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3EhbnwG
By Barry Svrluga
Barry Svrluga became a sports columnist for The Washington Post in December 2016. He arrived at The Post in 2003 to cover football and basketball at the University of Maryland and has covered the Washington Nationals, the Washington Football Team, the Olympics and golf. Twitter https://twitter.com/barrysvrluga
In this World Cup ski season, climate change is winning
By Barry Svrluga
November 18, 2022 at 5:23 a.m. EST
Austria's Patrick Feurstein skis during the first run of the men's giant slalom last month in Soelden, Austria. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)
The women’s World Cup Alpine ski season begins this weekend in Levi, Finland, where Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova and an international field of stars will run two slalom races in temperatures that, finally and mercifully, will peak in the teens. This event comes five weeks after the first scheduled competition of the season was wiped out because rain softened the course on a glacier in Soelden, Austria, to the point that it became unsafe to ski.
The only men’s Alpine race of the season thus far was contested the following day in Soelden — without rain but with temperatures in the mid-40s and a deteriorating surface. Since then, two men’s and women’s downhill races — in the shadow of Switzerland’s Matterhorn, with a finish line across the border in Italy — have been canceled because there wasn’t enough snow on the bottom portion of the track. Officials from the International Ski Federation (FIS) scratched a pair of parallel slalom races in Austria because cold temperatures arrived too late to provide a proper course.
The tally: Of eight scheduled races to date, one has been held. The women’s races this weekend will occur more than 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle — which is becoming one of the only fail-safe ways to stage an outdoor winter sports competition. Organizers are desperate to get the season going. Climate change is winning.
{snip}
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3EhbnwG
By Barry Svrluga
Barry Svrluga became a sports columnist for The Washington Post in December 2016. He arrived at The Post in 2003 to cover football and basketball at the University of Maryland and has covered the Washington Nationals, the Washington Football Team, the Olympics and golf. Twitter https://twitter.com/barrysvrluga